


Don't Let Go

by thankyouturtle



Category: Avengers Academy, Marvel (Comics), Marvel 616, X-23 (Comic)
Genre: F/F, Holding Hands, Ice Skating, Post-Canon, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-10
Updated: 2012-12-10
Packaged: 2017-11-20 19:23:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/588804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thankyouturtle/pseuds/thankyouturtle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>"Your job is to make sure I don’t fall over."</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Don't Let Go

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hotelmontana](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hotelmontana/gifts).



> A million thanks to Cygnaut, my beta, who did a marvellous job - any lingering mistakes and issues are strictly my own!

Laura knew the other woman was inside even before she opened her bedroom door. Her smell was in the air – a tainted, metallic scent which overrode the soft odors of the new synthetic carpet and the pile of woolen blankets on her bed. In fact, she was lying on top of the blankets, her head hanging upside down off the bottom of the bed, arms and legs spread-eagled. But when Jubilee saw that it was Laura opening the door, she grinned and rolled over, standing up. 

“I was starting to think your lessons were never ending,” she said. 

“They are,” Laura replied. “Why are you here?”

Jubilee heaved a sigh and sat back down. “Until a few seconds ago I was being bored to tears, but I was hoping that was going to change soon.” 

Laura turned away, opening her satchel and putting away her notebook and pens in her drawer. “Do you wish to spend some time here?” she asked. 

“Uh, at a school? No.” And Laura remembered listening to Jubilee on the subject of school before, when they were in Paris, where Logan and Remy had both pointed out to her that she had seemed to like school just fine when she was a teenager. Now there was no one to contradict her. “Tell me you’re allowed out into the city.” 

“I will need to ask permission,” Laura explained. 

“So let’s ask. You can tell me all the gossip about your classmates on the way.” 

Laura paused at the door. “I do not know any gossip.” 

“I’m pretty sure kid Avengers can’t be any less full of hormone-driven mistakes than X-kids. Which way are we going?” 

Laura led Jubilee through several corridors, leading towards the kitchen where she was sure to find at least one staff member. She did know gossip, she supposed, but it did not feel right to tell even Jubilee about Hazmat and Mettle’s relationship, or the fights between Reptil and White Tiger. Instead she mentioned her combat practice with Finesse, and visiting the Future Foundation with Julie Power.

“Isn’t Franklin Richards there?” Jubilee asked with interest. “I haven’t seen him for years. He was a nice kid.” 

“He is still a nice kid. Perhaps we could visit them? The Richards do not mind visitors.” 

“They might mind me,” Jubilee murmured, and there was nothing that Laura could say to that. Sue Richards had been very kind to Laura, but even very kind people could act unexpectedly around what they thought were unknown dangers. “Anyway,” Jubilee continued, her tone lightening, “we already have plans. At least, I have plans, and they include you.” 

They reached the kitchen and found Tigra there, heating up milk in a pan; Mettle was seated at the large kitchen table, eating a bowl of cereal even though it was already evening. “May I go out for the evening?” Laura asked. “My friend Jubilee is visiting the city.” 

Tigra half-turned from the stove and smiled her warm smile, first at Laura and then at Jubilee. “Jubilee, is it? Logan used to talk about you all the time. That shouldn’t be a problem, Laura, so long as you remember when curfew is.” 

“It is midnight,” Laura confirmed. 

“That’s right. And it looks like snow, so wrap up warmly.” Laura glanced down at her bare arms. She did not mind the cold.

“I’ll make sure she wears a scarf and jacket,” Jubilee promised. “C’mon.” And she stepped back towards the doorway. 

Laura dutifully returned to her room and pulled on a thin, long-sleeved shirt that was warmer than it looked, and a thicker, padded jacket with a hood. She shook her head when Jubilee mentioned gloves, and told her that she did not have a scarf, either. 

“Sure you do,” Jubilee replied, and produced a small bundle wrapped in tissue paper. Laura accepted it, but paused before opening it, unsure what to say. “Humor me, Laura. I used to hate the cold.” 

And now she did not feel it at all, Laura knew. She unwrapped the tissue paper, revealing a woolen scarf, deep inky blue, which felt soft beneath her fingers. She glanced up at Jubilee, who was watching her intently. “Thank you,” Laura said, and meant it. 

“Here – let me.” Jubilee took the scarf from her and unfolded it, then stepped closer to Laura to wind it, loosely, twice around her neck. Laura held herself still as she did so, hardly breathing until Jubilee stepped back again and gazed at her with a critical eye. “I have excellent taste,” she pronounced, and for a moment Laura was not sure whether she meant the scarf, or something else. 

Jubilee would not tell her where they were going. They walked to the nearest subway station, and waited until they found a car that was nearly empty before boarding. They did not speak much, although Jubilee talked a little about Logan, and mentioned that she hoped to see Remy before she returned to Scott and his X-Men. “Except I don’t know exactly where he is,” she admitted. “Do you?” 

Laura shook her head. “He sometimes sends me postcards, but they are never from the same place.” 

They changed at two stations before Jubilee announced they could go into the open air again. They emerged at the park, where despite the cold air and dark sky there were many other people, most in pairs or small groups, and Laura wondered whether this was their final destination. “I’ve always wanted to do this,” Jubilee said, and she sounded excited. “There was this Dazzler music video back in the day where she was roller skating, and then she was attacked by this ice king and suddenly everyone was on ice skates instead of- any way,” she said hurriedly. “It always looked like fun.” 

“Ice skating?” Laura asked, and as they turned a corner in the path they were on she suddenly saw it below – a wide, open white space, half-full of people laughing and catching hold of each other as they stumbled and spun. 

“Ice skating!” Jubilee repeated. “Have you been before?” 

“No, but I… know how to ice skate.” 

“I don’t,” Jubilee said happily. “You’ll have to teach me. C’mon – I’ll rent the skates, it’s my treat.” 

It took some time for both of them to find boots that fitted, but finally they were both on the ice, Laura standing patiently as Jubilee wobbled tentatively towards her. “Give me your hand,” Jubilee ordered. “And don’t let go. Your job is to make sure I don’t fall over.” 

“Or you will drag me down on top of you,” Laura pointed out, but took Jubilee’s proffered hand despite her own objections. 

“If you let me fall, you’ll deserve it – woah!” In teasing Laura the other woman had somehow managed to catch one skate’s blade in the other, and it was only Laura holding on that stopped her from crashing down on the ice. “Point taken,” Jubilee murmured.

***

They skated until Jubilee noticed Laura’s cheeks were decidedly rosier than usual.She herself never tired any more – not so long as it was night, and she had her flask handy, anyway – but she figured it was time for a break. Besides, by that time she’d totally managed to do a figure eight almost by herself. She didn’t want to push her luck.

“Hot drink?” she suggested to Laura. “I think they have hot cider at the kiosk – no way,” she added, seeing Laura reach towards a pocket. “This is my treat too.” 

“You paid for the skates,” Laura objected. 

“You can pay next time we hang out. I’m thinking a five star restaurant…” Jubilee was still grinning at the blank look on Laura’s face when she arrived back at the bench they’d found, a little way off from the other resting skaters. “Wrap your hands around these,” she said cheerfully, offering the cider and a paper bag full of tiny, hot donuts. 

“Thank you,” Laura replied dutifully. And then – “Why did we come here?” 

Jubilee sat herself down rather more forcefully than she meant to. “Ow. What? I told you. Childhood dream, and so on.” 

“That is not why you came to see me. Or why we came here.”

Jubilee groaned, but really, she supposed she should have known Laura would guess there was more to this than some kind of seasonal treat. Really, she should just be surprised that Laura hadn’t guessed what the more to this was. She ran her tongue over her teeth – a new habit, and one she was trying to suppress – and tried to figure out what to say. “Did you ever think, when you were a kid, that adults were supposed to – have all the answers? That they actually knew what was for the best?” 

“No.”

Jubilee grinned wryly. “No, I guess you didn’t.” She waited a moment, and then tried again. “I came to you – and we came here – because I need something in my life that makes sense. Everything else – what Cyclops is doing, Logan’s school, me being – it feels like everything’s twisting away, maybe worse than it did during the decimation.” She wriggled suddenly. Deep and meaningfuls weren’t usually her thing. “Being with you makes that stuff seem less, I don’t know, frustrating. Important. You’ve always understood what I am better than anyone, and knowing that I almost feel like I can relax.” 

“I think… I feel the same way,” Laura replied slowly. “I am enjoying the Academy. I like the other students, and their experiences are like mine. People have tried to use them as weapons. But…” Her brow furrowed ever so slightly. “They think that life should be easy, and if it is not easy, there is something wrong. They do not try to change what they do not like, but they will not accept it-”

“Just like most teenagers,” Jubilee interjected. “You’ve had more experience than most people your age at having to accept things you can’t change. And at changing things that aren’t acceptable.” 

“That is what we have in common,” Laura said, her voice soft, and they fell silent while she drank her cider in slow sips. 

“You want to skate some more?” Jubilee asked, when she was done. 

“Of course,” Laura said pleasantly. “You have not learnt to skate backwards yet.”

Skating backwards wasn’t as bad as it sounded, but that wasn’t saying much. If Laura had been the type of girl to laugh at someone who repeatedly face-planted on the ice, then she would have been in hysterics. As it was, she was suspiciously blank-faced as she bent over and gave Jubilee a hand up every single time, at least until she announced that it was eleven o’clock and she had to head back to school. Reluctantly, Jubilee tripped back over to the benches and stripped off her skates.

“I suppose I’d get you into trouble if I kept you out all night?” she asked, as they handed them over to the tired looking staff member. 

“Dr Pym wishes to know that he can trust us,” Laura explained. “I do not want him to think that he cannot.” 

Jubilee sighed, dramatically. “I suppose I’ll just have to come and see you again, then. I believe someone mentioned something about a fancy restaurant…” Not even thinking about it, she tucked her hand into Laura’s, and started walking down the path towards the nearest subway station. 

Laura didn’t let go.


End file.
